Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The zoo

Ha! You thought this post was going to be about a trip to the zoo, but it is actually about the Campbell's house when we spent two nights with them. Four adults and seven kids made for some crazy times. Okay. We also went to the zoo.

First things first, though. Todd took me on an awesome mystery date. He didn't tell me where we were going, just a few things I should bring. We ended up meeting a bunch of friends for lunch, playing games, going to a movie, eating dinner at Tucson's only five star restaurant, and spending the night in a suite in a resort. It was a cold night, but we still got to go for a swim in a heated outdoor pool where we saw shooting stars. It was pretty magical. In the morning we went for a hike in Ventana Canyon before heading back to Grandma and Grandpa Knight's house to rescue them from our kids. Best Christmas present ever.

On Sunday our kids made it in their Sunday clothes long enough for us to get a squinty Arizona sun-in-our-eyes portrait.

Nothing says Christmas time like cactus and sunshine.

I seriously have the cutest nieces and nephews.

Don't even argue with me. They are the cutest. Ryan loves to be tickled, so we get along great.

We spent Sunday and Monday nights at the Campbell's house. On Monday morning Todd, Grandma, and I took all of the kids except for baby Megan to the zoo while Colette and Jacob took their Christmas decorations down. It was pretty fun, except that the Campbell children do not seem to have any sense of keeping a safe radius around their attending adult like the Knight children do. B called to Annie a lot, "Mum BACK, Annie! Mum BACK!"

We were all excited to see the baby elephant. Did you know that elephants grow for their entire lives? The zoo in Seattle has two elephants, and they are both over thirty years old. This little guy (in the back) looked tiny to us.

B and Ryan are totally cute together. B loves all of his cousins. He plays chasing and tickling games with Rachel, looks out for Annie and calls for her to come and play with him, enjoys exactly the same toys and games that Ryan likes, and takes turns with him very well, and makes faces and gives kisses to baby Megan. He gets Peyton and McKenzie mixed up, but tackles them with hugs whenever he sees either of them.

Eloise wanted her hair done like Annie's. Maybe cousin influence will lead her to want her hair done more often. She has dodged the hairbrush less on this trip than ever in her life.

Here is our very sad attempt to get a group picture with some panthers. Note for future outings: get the group picture first while everyone is still in a mildly compliant mood. I believe I put it off this time because there was so much excited energy when we arrived at the zoo that it was impossible to corral the mob. We gave it our best effort.

We know it was a successful day because we had three sleepers when we got home, all with their heads tilted to the same side.